Chapter 03
ON THE WAY HOME FROM SCHOOL, Ringo boarded the subway train with Yukina and Mari. They chatted for a while, and then it was time for Mari to deboard, followed by Yukina. Then the train passed Ringo’s station, too.
For a while now, Ringo had gotten into the habit of going to hang out at the Takakura house. Well, perhaps “hang out” wasn’t the right way to put it—she was checking up on them. Sometimes she made plans with Himari, while other times she met up with Shoma. But in the end, she always checked in with all three siblings.
Granted, she was still coming to terms with everything she’d learned about their history. But in the meantime, she spent her days worrying endlessly about whether they were still functioning as a family…and whether anyone was giving them any trouble.
Yukina and Mari often teased her about “finally finding a boyfriend,” but she and Shoma were not dating—for now, at least. In a way, he felt more like a brother or some other relative…not that she believed she could insert herself into the ironclad bond between the three Takakura siblings, of course. But if possible, she wanted to build a good, strong connection with the first person she ever truly loved.
Tabuki Keiju was still nowhere to be found. Ringo was no longer interested in chasing after him, but she kept thinking back to the look in his eyes the last time she saw him. Those were the eyes of a kind, responsible man—the same Tabuki she had previously convinced herself she was in love with.
Had she become a better person? Even if she couldn’t be Momoka, could she still help Shoma? Was she useful to him? Was she needed?
Having deboarded at Ogikubo Station, she headed up the stairs. The wind blew up from below, rustling her hair. Her school-issued balmacaan coat was far too thin for this weather, and her bare neck was freezing.
“Oginome Ringo-san, I presume?”
Just then, she was accosted by a short man with a wan complexion who reeked of cigarette smoke. Suspicious, she stayed quiet.
“Allow me to identify myself.” He pulled a business card with bent corners out of his pocket and offered it to her.
“A journalist?”
Positioned over his name was the logo of a weekly tabloid that published all sorts of entertainment articles, including erotic model shoots. Ringo had seen this magazine at the convenience store, but she’d never read one. Its content wasn’t always strictly factual.
“We’re looking to interview the family members of those lost in the bombing. Now, we’ve heard it told that a group of children are living in the house of suspect Takakura Kenzan, pretending to be siblings. What do you think of this? Your older sister was killed in that incident, correct?”
Maybe he thought his smile was reassuring, but to Ringo, it was stiff, unnatural, and downright goosebump-inducing.
“Don’t write about things you know nothing about!” she shot back, glaring.
“It’s the truth, isn’t it? The world has a right to know. This is what it means to get justice,” the journalist replied robotically.
Ringo ignored him and stormed off into the shopping district. The journalist watched her go with a faint smile on his face, then turned and left.
“God, that journalist pissed me off! Next time I see him, he’s getting a knuckle sandwich! You better be on the lookout for him, Himari-chan!” Ringo raged melodramatically, then took a sip of the hot cocoa Himari made for her. “Agh! Hot!”
“I will.” As her expression clouded over, Himari transferred her cookies (freshly baked following Ringo’s recipe) onto a plate.
“Seriously, I mean it. Okay, end of conversation!” Pouting, Ringo let out a sigh and looked over at Himari as she continued to avert her gaze. “I’m sorry… I know you went to all the trouble of making cookies for me…”
“It’s okay.”
Himari followed Ringo’s recipe by herself once before, but at some point she must have put in the wrong amount of something, because they came out rock-hard. Shoma and Kanba still ate them, claiming they were “tasty in their own way” and “might make our teeth stronger.” But this time they came out perfectly—crispy, crunchy, and golden brown, with a light melt-in-your-mouth sweetness, just like the recipe intended.
“So…I guess you found out that the three of us aren’t really siblings, huh?”
Now that she remembered, she wasn’t really planning to keep it a secret from Ringo, but she wasn’t sure she was emotionally ready to find out how her friend felt about the special circumstances of the Takakura household.
“Yeah, Shoma-kun told me a little while back,” Ringo answered, feeling a bit guilty.
“Oh, so Sho-chan told you.”
For the briefest of moments, resentment flared up inside Himari at the thought that Shoma had snuck off to have some secret conversation with Ringo. As with the night the four of them ate sukiyaki together, she felt vaguely left out.
“I’m sorry,” Ringo apologized on reflex, though she hadn’t done anything wrong.
“No, it’s okay—I wanted you to know about it. It sucks having to lie all the time.”
It was the honest truth. Himari was happy to share her secrets with a friend as dear as Ringo… In that moment, looking down at her violet cable knit sweater dress, her slender legs looked small and childish.
“Well, have a cookie,” she said at last, forcing the words out as she looked up at Ringo, who gazed back anxiously. “I think they turned out good this time.”
“Okay!” Ringo grabbed a little round cookie and popped it into her mouth.
“How is it?” Himari asked.
“It’s good!” Ringo beamed.
Himari smiled back, then ate one herself. “What a relief.”
They all cared about each other, and they were all working hard to do right by each other. Maybe Shoma was having a really hard time not being able to talk to Kanba, since he was constantly busy with work, and maybe he didn’t want to bother Himari either, since she was so frail. Maybe it was a good thing, then, that Ringo was there for him. Yes, of course. Hadn’t the three of them always cared about each other, right from the start?
“See, our house is actually a Mika-chan Dream House,” Himari explained calmly.
“What? Mika-chan, like the doll?”
“Uh huh. Remember Mika-chan and her Dream House?”
Himari could still remember the commercial jingle, clear as day. She started to sing it, and before long Ringo joined in. At the end, they both burst out laughing.
“Oh god, that takes me back! Now I remember. I wanted one so bad, but my parents wouldn’t buy it for me.”
“Same.” Nearby, Penguin No. 3 sat on the tatami busily knitting; Himari pulled it into a hug. “Did you know it was Kan-chan and Sho-chan that painted the wall outside?”
“What?”
“Back when Mom and Dad first disappeared, I would cry all day long. With each new day, I was terrified that Kan-chan and Sho-chan would leave me, just like they did.”
But then Kanba and Shoma started painting the sheet metal siding in a rainbow of different colors. Pink and blue and green and yellow and red and orange… In a blink, Himari watched as the dull, gray house transformed into something bright and beautiful.
When they finished, the two boys thrust out their chests proudly, both of them splattered with drops of paint. Himari promptly stopped crying, instead staring enraptured at the wall that now resembled a Mika-chan Dream House. Whenever their parents returned, she was sure they would be delighted to see it. Afterwards, the boys reached out and stroked her hair with their newly paint-free hands.